Tonight’s Weird Historical Fact Is Brought To You By 1946

The Nets are playing an opening night game in New York City tonight, opening a new New York NBA franchise. Originally, they were supposed to play on November 1st against the other New York City franchise, but Hurricane Sandy postponed that game until November 26th. Now, the opening night game is tonight, November 3rd, against the Toronto Raptors.

Here’s the weird fact: the last time an NBA franchise based in New York City played their first game in franchise history, it was the New York Knicks — on November 1st, 1946, 66 years to the day from when Brooklyn was supposed to open. And who did they play?

If you have trouble reading that, the New York Knicks played the Toronto Huskies on November 1st, 1946, beating them 68-66. They were led by Leo “Ace” Gottlieb, who scored 14 points, well above his career average of 5.5 in two seasons with the Knicks.